Since my earliest days in school, ruler-wielding, stern-faced teachers warned against cheating on tests and the consequences that awaited those caught taking advantage of someone else’s work.

Admittedly, it has been some time since I’ve sat in a classroom and heard warnings about the soul-staining evils of cheating. Still, people in my profession still hear about those caught cheating by taking credit for someone else’s work.

Even the most casual sports fan can rattle off a list of athletes who have allegedly cheated by taking steroids or growth hormones to enhance their natural skills.

What drives a professional athlete to cheat? Your rapid response: Money, stupid. Lots of it!

But is that all? To become a professional athlete, regardless of the sport, isn’t that individual more physically gifted than 99 percent of the rest of us? So why cheat if you’re already among the best of the best?

I believe athletes cross the fair-play line because of pressure, both external and internal, to achieve success.

That type of pressure is not exclusive to multi-millionaires. A 2006 Junior Achievement/Deloitte Teen Ethics Survey of 13- to 18-year-olds found that more than two out of five teens feel “a lot” or “overwhelming” pressure to succeed in school, no matter the cost.

In 2000, Stephen Barr reported that a Who’s Who Among American High School Students survey of 3,100 high-achieving students revealed that 80 percent of them admitted cheating in school.

The problem of cheating is not limited to primary and secondary schools. Studies a decade ago by Rutgers University professor Donald McCabe found that on most campuses of higher education, more than 75 percent of students cheat.

Contributing to the percentage of cheaters is their casual attitude. More than half of those responding that they had cheated in the Who’s Who survey said it was “no big deal.”

According to Barr, many students rationalize away cheating, feeling that it’s OK to cheat if the course is not in their major but is required for graduating. Others see it as OK because it’s a victimless offense.

McCabe found that many students decided to cheat because they saw their peers doing it and getting away with it.

“They wonder, ‘Why should someone else get a better job or get into a better graduate school because people are not paying attention?’” said McCabe, as quoted by Tucker Carlson in a Reader’s Digest article.

Equally disturbing is the fact that a McCabe survey of 1,000 college faculty members found that of those aware of student cheating in their course, one-third did nothing about it.

How can this be you ask? It could be teachers look the other way because some college administrators view cheaters as victims.

One administrator suggested that students are driven to cheat by “perfectionist teachers.” An associate dean of student affairs said cheaters should be dealt with with sensitivity because their crime indicates something else is wrong in their life. Another college official theorized that some students cheat not because they are dishonest and lazy, but are simply too tired to do the work.

While cheating may fly in some classrooms, a time will come when it won’t be tolerated.

“Cheating is habit forming,” said Jay Mulkey, president of a nonprofit Character Education Institute in Texas. “Students who cheat in class may well cheat in their jobs or on their spouses.

“When you have a country that doesn’t value honesty and thinks character is unimportant, what kind of society do you have?”